I love science and STEAM projects, but if I’m being honest, sometimes collecting all of the materials and setting everything up can be difficult. As a result, we don’t do as many projects as I (and the boys) would like to do. If we have to buy materials or collect books, sometimes the experiments don’t happen at all. So when I find sometimes that makes science experiments easier, I get excited.

This post is a review of Insight to Learning Homeschool Subscription. I was compensated for my time in reviewing the product. The opinions in this post are my own (and my kids).

The TL:DR Version

So many activities in one box! And so neatly organized. My inner organizer was quite pleased.

Why I Love the Insight to Learning Homeschool Science Kits

For me, it’s all about the convenience. Everything is shipped to you in a box and separated by activity. All I have to do is grab one bag, and we are good to go. The accompanying books are right there too! We were able to do the activities on a whim, if we wanted to. I don’t mind a little bit of setup, but these required none. I didn’t have to worry about collecting any supplies at all!

Everything for the activities in contained within these bags. The teachers manual outlines each project, vocabulary, books, questions, etc.

When you open the bag…this was a watercolor/oil pastel project. Everything in the picture was included! The cups for water, paper plate for the background, oil pastels, watercolors, extra brushes, gluestick, and plenty of black paper. Oh of course, and the book! We just needed to add water. I was so happy for the extra brushes though because we could all do the project together.

Example page from the teachers manual. As you see, it gives clear instruction and nothing extra is needed. The bags are labeled by lesson, so no searching for the right materials in the box even. The questions were perfect as conversation starters. If we didn’t know the answer, it gave us the opportunity to look it up.

Why the Homeschool Science Kits are Perfect for Minimalist Households

We are trying this whole minimalism thing and loving it. With less stuff around the house we clean less often, can find things more, and everything is just less chaotic. One big problem I had was collecting items for experiments. Little tidbits that I knew would be perfect for that one thing. Except, that one thing rarely came up. I wish I had taken a picture when I cleared out my craft closet. I had 4 separate bags of googly eyes, for instance.

Why is the subscription good for minimalism? Well, the monthly subscription is kind of loan based. You send back many of the supplies. This is great because it keeps costs down when they can reuse items, and you don’t have to store items in your house! You can use the items and send them back! No more hording all the interesting bits and pieces for the chance that you might need them one day! No more overflowing craft closets where you can’t find anything you need anyway!

Another benefit – presents! There is a certain major holiday coming up and I already see many people asking the question of what gifts to get minimalist kids. How about a science box that doesn’t produce more junk and clutter?

Good for Multiple Age Groups

I chose the 2nd grade set for Royal hoping that I could adapt the box for Logi-Bear (5/K). What I found was that all three boys found use out of the information! The accompanying books were terrific, like Magic School Bus. Tons of information that can be geared towards a wide variety of ages. I also found that the activities could be beneficial to a wide variety of ages. We were able to do the activities altogether but also point some information out to each child that was on their level.

For instance, on the ocean activity I asked Logi-Bear to draw 5 animals that lived in the ocean. I asked Royal to draw some of the big animals and some of the smaller ones. For Baloo, I asked him to draw animals in the correct ‘ocean zone’. They all did the same activity, listened to the same book, and worked at the same table. But Baloo’s work required significantly more information than Logi-Bears.

Royal’s painting. The gray part was a whale shark. He informed me that since I asked him to draw something big, he drew the biggest fish in the sea.